A comparative study of regional variations in common visual impairments among school-age children
Svetlana Ivleva 1 , Muhammad Hajimajeed 2 , Oxana Kartashova 3 , Alexey Mikhaylov 4 *
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1 Department of Nursing Management and Social Work, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, RUSSIA2 College of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, SAUDI ARABIA3 Department of Organizations and Economics of Pharmacy, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, RUSSIA4 Research Center of Monetary Relations, Financial University Under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, RUSSIA* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to examine the incidence and age-related prevalence of eye conditions among school-age children living in Moscow Region (Russian Federation) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).
Methods: The study sample includes 573 visually impaired children aged 7-17 years (13.85±1.24 years) in Russian Federation and 600 children (13.78±1.11 years) in Saudi Arabia.
Results: Myopia in Russian Federation was with a prevalence rate of 35.6%, followed by astigmatism (21.3%), strabismus (16.2%), conjunctivitis (13.6%), hyperopia (10%). The incidence of visual impairment was lower for children from Saudi Arabia compared to Russian Federation (OR=1.01, 95% CI [0.85-1.17] in 2018, OR=0.93, 95% CI [0.83-1.03] in 2022 in Saudi Arabia and OR=1.36, 95% CI [1.25-1.47] in 2018 vs. OR=1.33, 95% CI [1.23-1.43] in 2022 in Russian Federation). In Saudi Arabia, myopia occurred in 10% of cases at 7-10 years, 20% at 11-13 years, and 25% at 14-17 years.
Conclusion: The satisfactory state of the health system in Saudi Arabia compared with Russian Federation has resulted in a lower incidence of visual diseases among children. The possible causes of the myopia prevalence are worse medical system in the Russian Federation compared to Saudi Arabia, and climate in both countries.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Original Article

ELECTRON J GEN MED, Volume 20, Issue 5, October 2023, Article No: em504

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejgm/13264

Publication date: 01 Sep 2023

Online publication date: 13 May 2023

Article Views: 1250

Article Downloads: 1027

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